*Alexander Ajayi, Nigeria’s Acting High Commissioner to South Africa, affirms the Federal Government will seek compensation for businesses and property abandoned by Nigerians returning home from South Africa under its voluntary evacuation programme
Isola Moses | ConsumerConnect
As 271 Nigerians evacuated from South Africa (SA) amid continued xenophobic attacks on them arrive in Lagos Tuesday, June 30, 2026, the Federal Government has made a number of demands from the South African Government over businesses, property the affected Nigerians have abandoned in the toxic Southern African country.
ConsumerConnect reports Alexander Ajayi, Nigeria’s Acting High Commissioner to South Africa, said the Federal Government would seek compensation for businesses and property abandoned by Nigerians returning from South Africa under its voluntary evacuation programme.
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Ajayi disclosed this Tuesday, while featuring in a ChannelsTV morning programme.
Another batch of 271 Nigerians had arrived in Lagos aboard an evacuation flight, organised by the Federal Government.
The High Commissioner said those being repatriated voluntarily, opted to return home ahead of planned anti-immigrant protests, slated to begin in major cities, such Durban and Johannesburg, in South Africa.
He also disclosed the Nigerian Government had already begun documenting string of businesses and property the evacuated Nigerians unceremoniously left behind in the former Apartheid-ravaged country.
Ajayi further stated: “In terms of the businesses, just three days ago, myself and the South African Deputy Minister of Finance were together, and we were discussing this.
“I took up the discussion with her, and we have agreed that we are going to ask our people who are returning to begin to document what they are leaving behind, and that was the message yesterday before this set that is due to land in Lagos.”
He said: “I have asked them before they left yesterday to document very accurately those things they were leaving behind in terms of businesses, in terms of even cars, movable and immovable properties.
“We can now take it up with the South African government. That is the next step we are going to take.”
Besides, the envoy said the current evacuation exercise would not end with bringing Nigerians home.
The Federal Government, Ajayi disclosed, intended to pursue compensation for those who had invested in South Africa over the years.
He stated: “So, this repatriation will not end with just taking people to Nigeria.
“We are going to systematically follow up on the information given to us, and I told them to be very accurate with what they are going to give because we are going to work with the South African Government to get to the exact locations of all these businesses, shops and properties and present them to the South African Government for possible compensation.”
Ajayi further averred that “we will not allow the labour people have suffered to build over the years to just go down the drain or be taken over by people.”
He equally rejected certain claims that most Nigerians living in South Africa were undocumented.
The Nigerian High Commissioner to SA rather clarified that the majority entered the country legally, and only became affected by delays in the renewal of immigration documents.
He restated: “In the last three or four years, there has been a deluge of applications at the South African Home Office, which were not attended to due to systemic issues.
“So, because of this, many, not only Nigerian nationals, were caught in this web of delay, so you cannot rightly claim that these were undocumented because most of them came to the country legally in terms of how somebody should migrate.”
Ajayi noted: “So, it is on the basis of now wanting to renew their papers and get them when one expires that they were caught up in the unnecessary delays.
“When people try to say they were undocumented, I quite disagree with that because some of them, based on experience, have had their papers lag behind at the Home Office for years.”
271 evacuated Nigerians return home via Lagos
ConsumerConnect reports the Air Peace flight conveying about 271 evacuees touched down at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA) Tuesday amid light showers shortly before 11 a.m., after departing Johannesburg, in South Africa, at about 5 a.m. local time.
Officials of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS), and the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NiDCOM) were on the ground to receive the returnees in Lagos.
The latest evacuation is said to be part of the Federal Government’s ongoing efforts at assisting Nigerians, who have voluntarily chosen to return home amid rising anti-immigration tensions in South Africa.
The exercise is coming against the backdrop of a June 30 deadline earlier declared by vigilante groups, and other organisations demanding the departure of undocumented migrants from the Southern African country.
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, earlier June 2026, had approved the voluntary evacuation programme, to enable Nigerians willing to leave South Africa to return home safely.
Earlier in June, the Federal Government disclosed that five Air Peace evacuation flights had been approved after more than 500 Nigerians were screened for repatriation.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the flights were intended to ensure that all registered Nigerians who wished to return would be evacuated safely.
Before the latest operation Tuesday, report indicated that 328 Nigerians had already been repatriated in two batches.
The first flight, which landed on June 11, brought back 262 returnees, while a second batch of 66 arrived in Lagos on June 25.
The evacuation exercise is being coordinated by the Federal Government in partnership with Air Peace and other relevant agencies.
The latest evacuation came as anti-immigration groups began staging demonstrations Tuesday, especially in Johannesburg 30, prompting the Federal Government to intensify efforts at assisting Nigerians willing to return home.
Meanwhile, live updates on ChannelsTV Tuesday revealed that most shops remained shuttered, and the streets of downtown Johannesburg were unusually quiet, with police fanning out across the city as commuters made their way to work in the xenophobic environment, that some said South Africa had become in recent years.